Location

About This Theatre

The Lyceum is Broadway’s oldest continually operating legitimate theatre. Built by producer-manager David Frohman in 1903, it was purchased in 1940 by a conglomerate of producers that included George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. In 1950, the Shuberts took ownership of the theatre and have operated it ever since.

Accessible Seating

Accessible seating is available for this performance as indicated on the seating map.

The theatre is not completely wheelchair-accessible. There are no steps into the theatre from the sidewalk. Please be advised that where there are steps either into or within the theatre, we are unable to provide assistance.

Wheelchair-Accessible Restroom

There is one (unisex) wheelchair-accessible restroom located on the main level.

Seat Accessibility

Orchestra Location:
Seating is accessible to all parts of the Orchestra without steps. There are no steps to the designated wheelchair seating location.

Mezzanine Location:
Located on the second level, up two flights of stairs from the Orchestra. Please note: On the Mezzanine level, there are approximately two steps per row. Entrance to Mezzanine is behind row J.

Balcony Location:
Located on the third level, up four flights of stairs from the Orchestra. Please note: On the Balcony level, there are approximately two steps per row. Entrance to Balcony is behind row J.

Handrails: Available at the end of every stepped seat row in the Mezzanine and Balcony.

Assisted Listening Devices

Reservations are not necessary. A driver’s license or ID with printed address is required as a deposit. Please e-mail [email protected] or call: 212-582-7678 to reserve in advance.

Loop technology is also available at this theatre.

Shubert Audience ServicesThe Lyceum Theatre provides at least 10 infrared assisted-listening devices for every performance at the theatre. Beginning four weeks after a show’s official opening-night performance, at least 10 audio description devices are available for every performance at the theatre. In addition, there is unlimited access to downloadable audio description software for personal mobile devices, available beginning four weeks after a show’s official opening-night performance, which provides an automated detailed account of the visual of the production, free of charge, for blind or partially sighted patrons. The theatre also offers handheld devices and software that provide captioning for deaf or hard-of-hearing patrons, available beginning four weeks after a show’s official opening-night performance. Additional devices can be available with at least 24 hours’ notice by contacting Shubert Audience Services at 212-944-3700 or [email protected]. There is also a representative at the Shubert Audience Services kiosk at every performance to assist any patron with the audio description devices, software, or captioning devices.

This memorable theatre, now owned by the Shubert Organization, was built by impresario Daniel Frohman in 1903; the landmark building now houses the Shubert Archive in Frohman’s former stately apartment. Still visible is the famous peephole through which Frohman could see actors onstage and wave a handkerchief to his performer wife, Margaret Illington, if she was overacting.

The last shows to play here were Oh, Hello; Fully Committed With Jesse Tyler Ferguson; a revival of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge; Chita Rivera in The Visit; Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced; Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses; and A Night With Janis Joplin. A number of Lincoln Center Theater productions have played at the Lyceum, including The Nance starring Nathan Lane, In the Next Room(or The Vibrator Play), Morning’s at Seven, The Invention of Love, and Rose. Other recent tenants at the Lyceum have been a commercial run of Manhattan Theatre Club’s Venus in Fur, John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown, Kander and Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys, Valerie Harper in Looped,reasons to be pretty,Macbeth, Is He Dead?, Inherit the Wind, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Souvenir, Steel Magnolias, Whoopi, I Am My Own Wife, The Play What I Wrote, and The Lonesome West.

This house was also the home of Tony Randall’s National Actors Theatre. Here, they presented Night Must Fall, The Sunshine Boys, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Saint Joan, Three Men on a Horse, and Timon of Athens.

The 1980s brought the first revival of Paul Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven (three Tony Awards); Jules Feiffer’s Grown Ups; Athol Fugard’s “Master Harold” … and the Boys; Edward Albee’s The Man Who Had Three Arms; Whoopi Goldberg in a one-woman show; As Is; Safe Sex; and Michael Feinstein in Concert.

Highlights of the 1970s included the Tony-winning play Borstal Boy with Frank Grimes; the gospel musical Your Arms Too Short to Box With God; and Constance Cummings giving a Tony-winning performance in Wings, a harrowing study of a woman who attempts to regain control of her life after a stroke.

From 1965 to 1969, the Lyceum was home to the Phoenix Theatre and the APA Repertory Company. During this time, the combined companies staged revivals of You Can’t Take It With You, War and Peace, Helen Hayes in The Show-Off, The Cherry Orchard, The Cocktail Party, and The Misanthrope.

Two British hits played this theatre in the 1960s: A Taste of Honey, starring Angela Lansbury and Joan Plowright (who won a Tony), and Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, starring Alan Bates, Robert Shaw, and Donald Pleasence. Nobody Loves an Albatross, about an overpowering television star, starred Robert Preston and Constance Ford. Many people felt it might have been about them, according to Preston, including Lucille Ball.

The 1950s brought Clifford Odets’s The Country Girl; Melvyn Douglas in Glad Tidings and Time Out for Ginger; King of Hearts; Anastasia, with thrilling performances by Viveca Lindfors and Eugenie Leontovich; A Hatful of Rain, a powerful drama about a drug addict; Walter Pidgeon in The Happiest Millionaire; and John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger.

The Lyceum’s biggest hit to this day? Judy Holliday and Paul Douglas in Garson Kanin’s 1946 comedy Born Yesterday, which ran for 1,642 performances.

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